Full work day!

Today I got up at a reasonable time, worked a reasonable amount of time, had lunch at a reasonable time, worked another reasonable amount of time, got coffee at a reasonable hour, and then took an unreasonable amount of photos of my temporary labmates and faculty advisor.  I'm still learning names, so you must forgive me... 

Today I was able to pull some zebrafish larvae out of their egg sacks and photograph their otoliths!  It's amazing how soon the otoliths are clearly visible.  I won't give too much information away on how we were able to do this, since this is a public forum, but there is some cool stuff going on!  Dr. Shu and I will be working together for the three weeks to figure out a collaborative project to extend my research to the molecular level at the same time as extending his to the macro level.  My research into the morphology of my samples may prove to be another proxy for normal development and/or show compensation for any number of genetic variables.

Next week I will give a lecture/seminar to the department and graduate students.  Apparently there are usually two speakers on Wednesdays, but since none were scheduled, I will have the whole hour to discuss at length issues of ocean acidification, various organismal response and specifically, my project.  I'm looking forward to meeting more of the faculty and perhaps fostering further collaborative efforts.  It would be pretty cool if discussions during or afterwards lead to more connections between GCU and UMass-Boston.

On a social note, Rakesh (pictured in the upper right) asked me to come out to play paintball with him and some other graduate students next Sunday.  I, of course, agreed!  On a trip of firsts (first time in Europe, first time in Ireland, first time in Scotland, first time using molecular biological tools, first time living on my own in a foreign country, first time disseminating UK currency, etc), I never imagined paintball would be added to that list.  I hear it can be a bit painful.  Possibly not more so than digging a hard hit in volleyball, but maybe?  Tomorrow, I will take the Glasgow tourist bus around and see what this city has to say for itself. :)